Van Ostern outlasts Tierney to win Executive Council seat in Dist. 2

Democrat Colin Van Ostern will fill the Executive Council District 2 following a contentious race against his opponent, Republican Michael Tierney.

According to WMUR results, Van Ostern had 58 percent of the vote compared to Tierney’s 42 percent across the district on Wednesday, taking in 68,797 compared to Tierney’s 49,898 in 75 out of 78 reporting precincts. In Durham, preliminary results showed Tierney with 1,984 votes compared to Van Ostern’s 4,185. In Dover, Van Ostern won by a large majority with 8,448 votes compared to Tierney’s 5,779. Rochester showed a close run with 6,465 votes for Van Ostern and 6,445 for Tierney. And in Farmington, finals tallied in 1,262 votes for Van Ostern and 1,364 for Tierney.

District 2 was recently modified to include the local communities of Dover, Durham, Farmington, Madbury, Rochester, Rollinsford, Somersworth and Strafford.

Van Ostern thanked his voters in a mass email at 11:42 p.m. on Tuesday night for the win.

“I’m honored by the responsibility that (New Hampshire) voters have placed in me by electing me to the Executive Council. I look forward to working with Maggie Hassan and both Democrats & Republicans on the Council,” he wrote, “to move our state forward with a renewed focus on jobs and less government interference in our personal lives.”

Van Ostern, 33, is a business manager for Stonyfield Farm, Inc. in Manchester. After graduating from George Washington University, he worked with several Washington Democrats, including Annie Kuster in 2010, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen during her U.S. Senate campaign, and John Edwards during his presidential campaign. He said he believes state legislative bodies, and the Executive Council, are too bogged down by social issues and hopes to look at contracts and appointment approvals practically, to better serve the district.

Tierney, 35, of Contoocook, told Foster’s he “reluctantly” entered the race, but said he felt he had to win to provide an “effective” check on the new governor and administration. On Wednesday, he distributed a statement thanking voters for their support in spite of the loss.

“We knew at the outset that this would be a difficult race as District 2 has the highest proportion of Democratic voters of any district in the state. Nevertheless, we outperformed expectations,” he wrote in an email to supporters. “The voters heard the message of fiscal responsibility and an end to the forced tax payer subsidization of New Hampshire’s abortion clinics.”

Tierney has a background as a high school teacher and lawyer, and now practices civil law as a partner with Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, PLLC in Manchester. He and Van Ostern sparred over hot button issues including funding for Planned Parenthood, which Tierney argued was haphazardly awarded without a contract bidding process, which Van Ostern said was a false claim. Tierney also knocked Van Ostern for being supported by Planning Parenthood through their $500,000 campaign, for him and other democratic candidates across the state.

Van Ostern is in favor of economic growth, by developing the state’s infrastructure, both “human and physical.” He previously told Foster’s he is interested in building state highways and bolstering education. He said he was dissatisfied with the negative vote for expanding the passenger rail project by the former Legislature and he will seek to re-address that issue as well.

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